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Say cheese! Teaching With Digital Cameras

I am guilty of purchasing digital cameras for my teachers and then never showing them how to actually incorporate this simple technology tool into their classrooms. Sometimes you get a wildly creative teacher who checks out the cameras, has her students complete their work on whiteboards, and then snaps pics to turn in (yay for paperless teaching!). But, more often than not, these tools sit in the cabinet with no one to really see their usefulness.

So, I have done some searching and here are some ways you can use digital cameras in your classroom. Let me know if you have some great ideas we can add to the list!! Happy browsing!

Education World has two dozen ideas here. My favorite... Take photos of school staff performing their duties. Write a caption for each photo and create a Community Workers book. (Extension: let older students create a brochure for your school!)

Here are 100 more ideas from Scholastic! Some are simple, some are a little more in depth. Some would work for student projects, some are just for teacher use. My favorite... Take photos to prompt creative writing.

If you need more than just ideas, check out this site from Wacona Elementary School. You can read about the how's and why's of using digital cameras in your classroom, as well as lesson ideas. My favorite... Take a walk around the school taking pictures of important areas. Have students draw a map of the school, importing the pictures to show the locations.

This list is broken down by subject area and also offers ideas for special education. My favorite... Take a digital scavenger hunt. (This is such a simple idea and can be integrated into ANY content area!)

And if that wasn't enough, this site has more resources than I know what to do with! You can learn how to choose the right digital camera, general precautions for using digital cameras in the classroom, and TONS of classroom applications!!

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